Out With the Bathwater
by eulalie27
Summary: Blaine wants a family. Kurt, not so much. When Blaine finds out what Kurt has been keeping from him, could it ruin everything? Includes discussion of male pregnancy.
1. Conflict

Kurt slams the front door behind him when he gets home. It's partially because of the grocery bags attempting to escape his arms, but mainly slamming is the most effective way to channel his frustration. After seemingly endless hours of sketching and the even more endless drive home and trip to the market across the street and two blocks down, Kurt is more than ready to take a bath and go to bed.

"Blaine?" he calls into the quiet apartment, sitting the grocery bags on the table in the foyer so he can unwrap his scarf and take off his coat. "I'm home."

"Kitchen," Blaine replies shortly, and Kurt sighs. Nothing good ever comes of it when both of them are grumpy and tired.

Kurt bravely scoops up the bags once more and heads into the kitchen with the cheeriest smile he can muster. "Hey, dinner might be a little late because I was planning on taking a quick bath first," he explains as he bustles around the tiny room, putting away groceries. "I was thinking about making chicken, so it would have to marinate anyway..."

Kurt trails off, realizing that Blaine hasn't made his usual move to gather all the perishables and stuff them in the refrigerator for Kurt to organize later. Kurt turns around to see his boyfriend sitting at their small table, staring at him blankly, and his heart drops into his stomach. "Bad day?" he asks gently, hoping it doesn't cause Blaine to blow up.

Blaine just remains eerily calm and glances at the doorway to the living room pointedly. "We got an interesting message on the machine today. Maybe you should hear it."

Kurt's mind races as he silently crosses the room and approaches the ancient answering machine. Were they being harassed? Had someone died? All of the horrible possibilities flit through Kurt's brain until he presses the play button and holds his breath.

"Good evening, Mr. Hummel," a warm female voice greets him. "This is Sharon from Dr. Fallon's office. We just wanted to let you know that your test results came back negative. However, we do recommend that you make an appointment with us to discuss your future options. Please call us back at your earliest convenience at-"

Kurt hits the erase button before Sharon can read back the number, and it takes all of his strength not to just curl up on the floor and cry. Despite the strange mix of relief and disappointment he fells at the news, the most pressing issue right now is dealing with Blaine. Kurt inhales deeply, bracing himself before going back into the kitchen and sitting across from Blaine.

"So, care to tell me what exactly is going on?" Blaine's carefully hidden anger is beginning to rise to the surface.

"I take it you've done some research? Called Dr. Fallon's office?" Kurt asks coolly, trying to slow his racing heart.

"It only took about a minute of Googling to tell me everything I needed to know," Blaine shrugs. "Why don't you explain to me why you were sneaking behind my back to see an OB-GYN?"

Kurt can't find his voice to defend himself. "I... I-I-"

"Why didn't you tell me you're a carrier?" All of the irritation has seeped out of Blaine, leaving confusion and hurt. "This is something we should have talked about a long time ago."

"I didn't know!" Kurt shouts, raising his gaze from the table to Blaine's pained hazel eyes. "I just found out last week!"

"And in all that time, it never occurred to you to mention it to me?" Blaine's tone is becoming more pleading with every passing word.

"Yeah, just picture that conversation. 'Oh, my day was fine. I turned in my sketches and found out I can have babies and may or may not be pregnant. How was work?'" he spits defensively, feeling tears of shame sting at his eyes.

"Isn't that better than nothing? I would rather have an awkward conversation than-"

"Well, gosh, Blaine. I must have forgotten to take your feelings into account while I was trying to avoid a mental breakdown." Kurt's breath hitches as he tries to blink back his tears. He can't help but feel betrayed, like if Blaine would only _try_ to understand why he did what he did, none of this would be happening.

"Kurt, baby, don't cry."

It's only the panicked tone in Blaine's voice and the feel of Blaine's hand gently covering his own that alert Kurt to the fact that he's started sobbing softly. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you," he whispers, trying to calm his breathing so he's not hyperventilating. "I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. What if I told you and I turned out not to be pregnant? What if I _was _pregnant? What would we do?"

Blaine stands slowly and moves to stand at the other end of the table, wrapping his arms around Kurt from behind. "We would figure it out, okay? We would be fine."

"I'm sorry, Blaine," Kurt sniffles, using the sleeve of his (very expensive) shirt to dry his eyes. "I should've known it would be worse to try to ignore it, because if, God forbid, something happened and I did get pregnant-"

"Would that be so bad?" Blaine interrupts, kneeling next to Kurt's chair with their fingers laced together. "I mean, do you not want a family?"

Kurt shuts his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"But that's what I'm asking," Blaine presses, rubbing his thumb in circles over the back of Kurt's hand in what he hopes is a soothing manner.

"Do I have to decide right this minute?" Kurt snaps. "God, just give me two seconds to figure it out!"

Blaine jerks away as if he's been burned. "Okay. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Why don't you go take a bath while I start marinating the chicken?"

Kurt takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "I'm sorry for yelling. It's been a long day, and I know that's not an excuse, but-"

"Go. Bathe," Blaine says softly, pressing a kiss to Kurt's hair as he rises. "I'll cook. We'll have some wine with our dinner and watch a movie and just... relax," he whispers, brushing his fingertips over the bare skin at Kurt's hip where his shirt has ridden up, making Kurt shiver. "I'm sorry if I overreacted. I just... This is the kind of thing we need to talk about. I understand you being worried about what I would think, but we need to be honest with one another."

"I don't blame you. Really, Blaine," Kurt adds at his boyfriend's skeptical expression, "I would've done the same thing."

Blaine gives him a small smile. "I know. Now go take that bath while I try not to burn the house down."

With that and a gentle kiss to Kurt's temple, Blaine is off to rummage for the chicken in the freezer while Kurt can't help but take a moment to reflect on how lucky he is. Lucky for what, exactly, he isn't sure, but the warmth of contentment he gets when he watches Blaine struggle to measure out the right amount of herbs for the marinade is enough for now.


	2. Compromise

When Kurt wakes up the next morning to a side of the bed that is definitely lacking Blaine, his heart plummets into his feet. As much as the logical side of his brain tries to deny it, Kurt can't shake the feeling that their nice evening hadn't patched things up quite as well as he had hoped, that Blaine was so hurt that Kurt hadn't told him about his carrier status that he had left in the middle of the night to possibly never return.

"You're being ridiculous," Kurt mumbles to himself as he blearily stumbles out of bed to grab the bathrobe hanging from the hook on the back of the adjoining bathroom's door. "Blaine would never do that," he continues his one-sided conversation. At the same time, he can't stop himself from peeking into the left side of the top dresser drawer where Blaine keeps his socks and underwear, just to make sure his things are still there. (Much to Kurt's relief, there they are, the piles of undergarments he organizes every weekend strewn about and wrinkled from Blaine's constant rummaging to find his "lucky" socks or a pair of briefs that don't have a hole just below the elastic band.)

With a satisfied nod, Kurt pads through the living room of their apartment and into the kitchen, where he finds Blaine scrambling eggs at the stove with his back to Kurt. With his hair adorably sticking up in all directions and one sock barely hanging off his foot, Blaine is both irritating to Kurt's obsessive-compulsive tendencies and the imperfect picture of domesticity that makes Kurt's cheeks flush bright pink.

Blaine has clearly been a poor influence on his impulse control, Kurt decides when he can't stop himself from tiptoeing up behind his boyfriend and suddenly wrapping his arms around his waist. "Good morning, darling," he sighs, pressing a kiss to Blaine's cheek before resting his forehead on his shoulder.

Unperturbed, Blaine rests a hand on one of Kurt's where it's bunching up his t-shirt. "Well, hey there, Sleeping Beauty. I was wondering if you were just going to stay in bed all day. I'm making eggs," he adds unnecessarily, nodding his head down at the frying pan.

"I noticed," Kurt teases, nuzzling his cheek into Blaine's shoulder blade.

"You're awfully cuddly this morning. Usually that's my job." Blaine absentmindedly twirls his spatula between his fingers as he turns off the burner. "You wanna make burritos?"

"Yeah, sure." Kurt reluctantly pulls away and crosses the room to grab the package of tortillas from the refrigerator. "And I guess I just missed waking up next to you." He can't quite stop relieved tears from welling up in his eyes, thankful that this was hopefully the only time that Blaine wouldn't be there to snuggle with first-thing in the morning.

When Kurt turns around to grab a paper plate on which to microwave the tortillas, Blaine is there holding one out, a sweet smile on his face. His expression drops when he sees the sparkle in Kurt's eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry. I thought I'd just surprise you with breakfast. I didn't mean to deprive you of snuggles. If it makes you feel better, we can always get back in bed later," he suggests, waggling his eyebrows outrageously so Kurt cracks a watery smile.

"Yeah, I guess we can." Kurt carefully arranges the tortillas on the plate and sets it in the microwave. "But I think we need to have another talk first."

Blaine frowns. "I guess we do. Maybe if we get it out of the way over breakfast, we can still cuddle later."

"Uh-huh." Kurt is tempted to just avoid the conversation, tempted to solve the problem by ignoring what Blaine wants and what he himself is afraid to talk about, but he can't bring himself to do that to Blaine, who obviously wants them to work this out.

The microwave pings loudly in the near-silent kitchen, causing Kurt to jump out of his thoughts and into motion, preparing their breakfast burritos as if on autopilot. This is a conversation Kurt really does _not_ want to have. He doesn't want to talk about how he's a freak of nature as a male who can bear children or about how he's afraid he won't be a good father and he won't be able to connect to his child or any of the terrible worries he has about the whole thing.

"Kurt, are you okay?" Blaine's concerned voice brings him out of his trance. "You've been staring at your burrito like it has all the secrets of the universe rolled up inside it for the past minute."

"I'm fine," Kurt lies automatically. "Just tired. Thank God it's Saturday." He drums his fingers on the table as if trying to signal Blaine to just _drop it already._

Blaine raises a skeptical eyebrow but thankfully keeps his mouth shut about it. "Well, I think we should just get this out of the way." He gestures for Kurt to sit at the table with him.

"Get what out of the way?" Kurt asks stupidly, but does what Blaine directs him to do.

"I want a family with you," Blaine announces suddenly. "I want us to raise children together, and if they can be biologically ours, that would be so amazing. I would be okay with it if we had to use a surrogate or adopt because I don't want to push you into getting pregnant if you don't want that, but I want to have children with you, Kurt Hummel. I don't want to force you to do it because, yeah, this is a really huge step and I know we're not married but I don't think that matters because our child would still have two parents who really love him or her and I think I'll shut up now because I'm starting to ramble."

Kurt can only blink at his boyfriend. "Blaine, I don't know-"

"Oh my God, please tell me I did not just ruin our relationship with a few sentences."

"Hey, no, calm down. I was going to say that I don't know what to say. I don't know what I want. I mean, I like kids and they seem to like me well enough for the most part."

"But?" Blaine prompts, seemingly reading Kurt's mind.

"_But_, I'm really scared. About children. And, you know, I guess, pregnancy, because that's never really sounded fun to me. Plus, we're kind of in the middle of college, so I don't think the timing is great."

Blaine is obviously working very hard to keep from pouting. "The end of college, really. We're graduating in June."

"The point is that I'm not ready to have kids right now, Blaine. It's, what, March now? We'd have a kid when we've barely been out of college for a few months if I got pregnant now. One day, maybe, but not today," Kurt sighs. "I love you so much, and I don't want to lose you over this, but I'm not ready. Let's wait a while and we'll talk about this again. Maybe... Six months from now?"

"Okay," Blaine nods eagerly. "No, Kurt, that's okay. We don't have to do that right now. Someday is good enough for me." He reaches across their small table and clings to Kurt's hand like a lifeline. "God, you are so perfect."

"You're not too bad yourself, mister," Kurt says softly, looking away in embarrassment as his face flushes bright pink.

Blaine clears his throat loudly. "What do you say we go back to bed for a bit?" He adds an overly exaggerated wink so he can see Kurt's face light up with laughter.

"That sounds nice." Kurt holds out his hand and allows Blaine to pull him back into their bedroom and everything is okay again.


	3. Choice

The summer ends up passing too slowly and too quickly all at the same time. Kurt exhales deeply as he carefully toes off his shoes. Having just arrived home from an internship at an up-and-coming fashion magazine, an internship that required them to move back from New York to Columbus, he's justifiably exhausted after being run ragged all day. He hopes that leaving his shoes by the door _just this once_ won't make it into a bad habit.

"Kurt? Is that you?"

Kurt can't stop the small smile from blooming on his face at the sound of Blaine's voice. "Yes, but it's too hot to move. Come carry me." He knows Blaine won't be able to refuse the joking challenge, despite the fact that all his previous attempts to even lift Kurt have been unsuccessful. Kurt suspects it's the height difference that causes the problem, because he is definitely lighter than Blaine.

Sure enough, Blaine practically bounces into the foyer and immediately throws his arms around Kurt's neck, pulling him into a lingering kiss. "Bad day?" he asks softly. "Need more kisses?"

"My feet hurt. Joanne had me running all over the office today, delivering memos and stupid things like that. I think she just hates me," Kurt _harrumph_s, burying his face in Blaine's shoulder. "Like, _hello_, has she never heard of email?"

Blaine nods sympathetically. "Another one stuck in the 20th century? That sucks. But you still seem to be in a better mood than you have been." He bites his tongue to stop himself from elaborating on how Kurt had been snappier than usual and hadn't been eating. Blaine doesn't want to get his hopes too high, but he thinks the change in Kurt's demeanor meant that he was thinking through the baby issue and the fact that he's back to normal must be good, right?

"I'm finally on my way to doing what I love," Kurt says with a happy sigh. "It might suck right now, but it's going to be so awesome in a few years when _I'm _the one yelling at interns to get coffee and pretending I don't understand technology."

"You are too precious." Blaine presses a quick kiss to Kurt's temple before gently pushing him away. "I'm going to start dinner now, if you want to change or take a bath or something."

Kurt pretends to be scandalized, following Blaine into the kitchen when he starts to wander away. "Why, Blaine, if I didn't know better, I might think you were trying to get rid of me!" He clasps a hand to his chest, right over his heart, and puts on his most heartbroken face.

"Excuse me for trying to be nice," Blaine says lightly, pulling a large pan out from a low cupboard. "And I'm immune to that face, so don't even try it. You can help with dinner, if you want. What kind of pasta should I use?"

"Are we out of vermicelli?" Kurt asks, already crouched down and rummaging through the pantry shelves. "I thought we just bought some."

Blaine frowns, reaching over Kurt's ducked head to grab a can of tomato paste. "I think it's behind the cereal, for some reason."

"Would that reason be that you had cereal this morning and just stuck the box at the front of the shelf instead of where is belongs?" Kurt wonders aloud dryly, placing the box of Cheerios behind several other boxes on the second shelf from the bottom. "Oh, there it is. Right where it was supposed to be. In plain sight." He hands the package of uncooked noodles over his shoulder to Blaine without looking.

"Bread?" Blaine suggests, stepping aside to allow Kurt back to his feet. "We could finally try that garlic bread recipe you saw online."

Kurt snorts. "Okay, but you aren't allowed anywhere near the bread. I seem to recall that the last time I made bread, you kept stealing pieces until there were hardly any left for dinner." When Blaine opens his mouth to protest, Kurt holds up a hand. "That story is one hundred percent true; don't even try to deny it. You stick to your sauce, and I will make the bread."

"Fine." Blaine doesn't even try to hide his smile as he pulls a large saucepan from a cupboard next to the stove. "I can do that."

Raising an eyebrow, Kurt looks his boyfriend up and down. "Why are you so happy?"

"We're just so…" Blaine trails off, shaking his head self-deprecatingly. "Never mind. It's stupid."

"No, come on! Tell me!" Kurt smiles at him encouragingly from the cutting board where he's slicing a loaf of French bread. "It can't be that bad."

Blaine gives a half-hearted shrug. "It's just that I like being like this with you. So domestic, like an old married couple. Like how you get mad at me for not putting the Cheerios away but you're obviously not _really_ mad, or how we can just go back and forth with our banter forever." He ducks his head when he feels the blush creeping up his neck and high on his cheeks but doesn't stop talking. "It's so easy, being with you. And you probably think I'm being cheesy and weird again, but sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am because I found you."

"Oh, Blaine."

The tightness in Kurt's voice makes Blaine look up from where he's mixing ground beef with various tomato products for the sauce.

Kurt has put down his knife and is leaning heavily against the kitchen table with one hand. The other is brushing a stray tear from his cheek before dabbing at those gathering in his eyes. The love blooming in his chest is suddenly so intense that it's painful. Kurt realizes that all he needed to decide whether or not to have this man's child was this moment, a completely organic profession of love, and the realization causes a surprised sob to escape Kurt's throat.

Blaine is instantly concerned, rushing to pull Kurt into his arms. "Kurt, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. Sometimes my feelings just throw themselves out of my mouth without asking if they can come out first and-"

"No, no, it's not you. What you said was so beautiful, honey." Kurt never wants to move from where their cheeks are pressed together and his arms are locked around Blaine's neck and Blaine smells _so good_, but the bread still has to be seasoned and put in the oven and-

Blaine pulls away before Kurt has to make his decision. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Kurt worries at his lip while he decides whether another few minutes would hurt when Blaine's already been waiting to hear his answer to the baby question for six months. He hesitates for only a moment before blurting out, "I want to have a baby," before he can stop himself.

As clichéd as it seems, Blaine can't stop his mouth from dropping open. "Are you serious?" He knows it's bad to get his hopes up so quickly, but he can't stop his heart from beating faster and his hands from shaking with excitement.

"I think so," Kurt says slowly, testing the words on his tongue even as he speaks them.

Blaine's heart plummets into his feet abruptly. He should've seen it coming. "Why don't you think about it some more?" As much as it pains him, Blaine recognizes that it would be worse if they went through with it and regretted it later. "This is really important, and-"

"I was so worried that I wouldn't be a good father," Kurt tries to explain. "I mean, you've met my dad. He's amazing. All I could think when you brought it up was, 'How could I live up to that?' But right now, the way you…" Kurt inhales deeply and stops another tear from trickling down his cheek. "God, Blaine, you were so happy about the littlest thing. Well, not a little thing, but a detail. And I know that as long as you keep paying attention to details like that, you'll be a good enough parent for the both of us."

Blaine shook his head. "No, Kurt, you don't get it. You are going to be the best dad ever. I see how you care about everything. You love _so much_, honey, whether you realize it or not. Our kid is never going to wonder if you care, like I did with my dad. You're going to be at all the recitals and games if you have to kill someone to do it." Blaine reaches down and grabs Kurt's hand. "I promise, that kid won't know what hit him. He's gonna be so lucky to have you."

"I wish we could get married," Kurt whispers sadly. "I wish it so much."

"I know," Blaine tries to soothe him, as if his own heart isn't shattering into a million pieces at the reminder of the unfairness of the world. "I know, honey, but one day we will. We'll be able to get married right here in Ohio with your family, just like you want. I promise. And our baby will be there. Everyone I love, right there in one room. It'll be perfect."

Kurt smiles weakly, wiping more tears away. "Oh, geez. I'm making a huge mess here."

"The water for the noodles has probably been boiling for the past ten minutes," Blaine grins. "You're definitely not the only one slacking here." He kisses Kurt softly. "Let's finish making our dinner and maybe later we can get started on that baby-making," he suggests, raising his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

"Oh, shut up." Kurt gives him a teasing shove. "Go forth and cook for me." He turns back to the seasoning he's mixing for his bread, but a moment later, he adds, "I love you."

Blaine smiles because he knows they'll be okay.

**Sorry for the late update; I don't understand how summer can get so busy. I'll try to have some more up for you as soon as possible.**

**Thank you to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and alerts! I was definitely not expecting the response I've gotten. Even greater thanks to those of you who have reviewed. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I've written so far and what you think should come next.**


End file.
